Deadline

David looked at the clock.  It was 10 minutes to 5:00.

Now it’s official.  Only 10 minutes remained before David had to turn in the report.

David remembered his boss telling him how important this report was.  “Yes Dave,” he told him.  “Please get that report in today.  You have started on it, haven’t you?”

The report was only halfway finished then.  Now, it’s just about complete.

7 more minutes.  David typed like lightning on the keyboard.  The figures needed to be correct.  The data needed to be correct.  Everything needed to be spotless.

5 more minutes.  The report only needed to be spell-checked now.  David ran the spell-check.  No errors.  What a relief.

4 more minutes.  Now to print the report.  David printed the report, but to his horror, nothing happened.

The remaining minutes ran out.  David’s time was up.  Sadly, David had to break the news.

Just as he went to his office, his boss was leaving.

“So,” the boss smiled, “do you have that report?”

“No….” David sighed.  “The printers….”

The boss then gasped.  “Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.  The printers are currently having problems.  They’ll be fixed tomorrow.  Just have the report to me by the end of the day tomorrow, okay?”

David nodded.  Another relief.

Looking at his watch, the time read 5:04.  The deadline was not necessary.  But it was only prolonged for another day.  And that was all the time that David needed.

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©2012  K. L. Walker